Sheet glass apparatus



July 5, 1932. DY. BLACKSHERE SHEET GLAS S APPARATUS Filed June 25. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Le ws D. Bloc/(she re ATTORNEY .uy 5, 1932. D. BLACKSHERE SHEET GLASS APPARATUS Filed June 25, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Lewis Dlac l e ATTO RN EY Patented July 5, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEWIS D. BLACKSHERE, OF CHAR-LESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO LIBEY- OWENS-FORD GLASS COMPANY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO SHEET GLASS APPARATUS Application filed .Tune 25,

The present invention relates to improve ments in apparatus for producing sheet glass.

i In a sheet glass drawing machine of the type disclosed in the patent to Colburn 1,248,809, granted Dec. 4,'1917, a flat sheet of glass is continuou'sly drawn upward for a'relatively short distance from a pool of molten glass and then, while still in a semim plastic condition, is deflected into the horizontal plane over-an internally cooled metallic bending member usually in the form of a rotatable roll. This bendin'g roll is ournaled at its opposite endsin suitable bearings and may be positively driven or not as desired. Occasionally and at irregular intervals of time, it becomes necessary for one reason or another to repair or replace one v or both of the bending roll bearings and to 90 accomplish this by ordinary methods, the machine must be completely shut down and the formation of the sheet discontinued; After the defective bearing or bearings have been replaced, the drawing of the sheet must again be started with the aid of the usual bait and a considerable length of sheet` must be drawn before it again reaches the'quality that was being obtained before the machine was stopped. The above 'procedure is of course an undesirable one since its results in a considerable loss of both time and produc tion.

An important object ofthe present invention is the provision of simplified means by the use of which one or both of the bearings for the bending roll may be repaired or replaced without the necessity of stopping the machine or discontinuing the sheet drawing operation. i

Another important object of the invention is the provision of means of the above character adapted for temporarily supporting the bending roll in operative position while the defective bearing is being replaced, thereby obviating the loss of any time or production.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent during the course-of the following description when 1931. Serial No. 546,&49.

taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partially in vertical longitudinal section, of that portion of the sheet drawing machine concerned with this invention,

F ig. 2 is a section taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the glass sheet 5 is drawn upwardly from the pool of molten glass 6 in the pot or receptacl e 7, and then while still somewhat plastic is defiected about the cooled bending member or roll 8 into the horizontal plane. The sheet is then carried along over an intermediate supporting roll 9 onto a drawing and supporting mechanism, not shown, and thence into the leer.

The bending roll 8 is mounted at its opposite 'ends on suitable roller bearings contained in the bearing boxes 10 and 11 at the sides of the machine. These bearing boxes are hung from the supporting rods or bolts 12 vertically adjustable through supporting sleeves 13 by means of adjusting nuts 14, whereby the said bending roll may be moved up or down as desired. The supporting sleeve 13 is carried by a. slide 15 adjustable horizontally in the trackways 16 of the side frame in any desired manner whereby the position of the ,bending roll may be adjusted horizontally The intermediate roll 6 may be supported and adjusted both vertically and horizontally in substantially the same manner as the bending roll.

When one of the bearings in either of the bearing boxes 10 or 11 becomes defective and it is desired to replace the same, the follow ing additional apparatus is placed upon the machine. Thus, at each side of the machine a supporting guide bar 17 is clamped to the side frame by means of bolts or the like 18; This guide bar comprises a downwardly projecting curved portion or cam track 19 reach ing from a point 20 outside and somewhat above the angle made by the glass sheet about the bending roll to a point 21 below the bending roll.

Mounted upon the cam track 19 at each side of the machine is a substantially horizontal supporting arm 22 provided with rollers 23 and 24 hearing on the upper and lower surfaces respectively of the guide bar 19 whereby the said arm may be easily moved up and down along the guide. As best llustrated in Fig. 3, the outer end of the" supporting arm is bifurcated to provide the spaced portions 25 and 26 between wh ch the rollers 23 and 24 are positioned and hkewse between which the cam track 19 is received. The inner end portion 27 of the arm 22 s positioned beneath the bending roll 8 and s curved to correspond substantially to the curvature thereof. The curved portion 27 oi: the supporting arm 22 carries a pluralty ot freely rotatable rollers 28, the upper surfaces of which project upwardly above the curved portion 27 and are adapted to temporarily support the bending roll when it is desred to replace a defective hearing. The rollers 28 may be of any desired shape, but as here shown are tapered to correspond with the tapered end portions 29 of the bending roll.

A windlass mechanism is provided for smultaneously moving the supporting arms 22 e up and down the guides 19. This windlass comprises a horizontal cross shaft 30 carrying a cable drum 31 at either end. The shaft 30 is adapted to be rotated by a suitable crank 32 at one end and the reverse movement oi the shaft is controlled by the pawl 33 engaging ratchet 34. At each side of the machine a cable 35, wound about the repective drum 31, passes downwardly around a defiecting roller 36 carried by the projecting portion 37 of the guide 'bar 19, and the lower end thereof is adapted to be hooked onto an eye 38 projecting from the arm 22. By suitably turning the crank 32, the shaft 30 will be rotated in the desired direction to either wind up or pay out the cables 35 so as to raise or lower the supporting arms 22 with respect to bending roll 8. When the cables are wound upon the drums in a manner to efl'ect a raising of the supporting arms 22, the pawl may be left in engagement with the drums, but when it is desired to unWind the cables to lower the said supporting arms, the pawl must be first moved out of engagement with the ratchet.

From the above, it will be readily seen that when it is' desired to replace a defective hearing within either of the bearing boxes 10 or 11, the' cables 35 are wound up upon the pulleys 31 whereby to move the arms 22 upwardly to bring the rollers 28 into supporting engagement with the end portions 29 of the bending roll 8. When so positioned, the rollers 28 are adapted to temporarily support the weight of the bending roll and while being so supported, the defective bearing can be removed and a new hearing substituted therefor. All of this can be accomplished without the necessity of stopping the machine or disturbing the drawing of the glass sheet in any way.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as the preferred embodiment of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for producing sheet glass wherein the said sheet is initially drawn upwardly from a bath of molten glass and then deflected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means 'for normally supporting the bending roll, and auXiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the firstmentioned supporting means.

2. In apparatus for producing sheet glass wherein the 'said sheet is initially drawn upwardly from a bath of molten glass and then defiected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, and auxiliary means movable into and out of engagement with said roll for temporarily supporting the same in operative position when the first-mentioned supporting means is rendered inefi'ective.

3. In apparatus for producing sheet glass wherein the said sheet is initially drawn upwardly from a bath of molten glass and then deflected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auxiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auxilary supporting means including an arm positioned beneath the bending roll adjacent each end thereof, and means for moving said arms into and out of supporting engagement with said roll.

4. In apparatus for producing sheet glass wherein the said sheet is initially drawn upwardly from a' bath of molten glass and then defiected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auxiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auxiliary supporting means including a plurality of rollers positioned beneath the bending roll adjacent each end thereof, and means for moving said rollers into and out of supporting engagement with said roll.

5. In apparatus for producing sheet glass wherein the said sheet is initially drawn upwardly from a bath of molten glass and then 'defiected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auXiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auXiliary supporting means including a pair of arms positioned beneath the bending roll adj acent opposite ends thereof, a plurality of rollers carried by each arm, and means for moving said arms to bring the rollers carried thereby into supporting engagement With said roll.

6. In apparatus for producing sheet glass Wherein the said sheet is initially dravvn up- Wardly 'from a bath of molten glass and then defiected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auXiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auxiliary supporting ;means including a pair of guides, one at either side of the apparatus, an arm movable along each guide, and means for moving the arms along said guides to bring said arms into supporting engagement With the bending roll.

7. In apparatus for producing sheet glass wherein the said sheet is initially dravvn up- Wardly from a bath of molten glass and then defiected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auXiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auxiliary supporting means including a pair of guides, one at each side of the apparatus, an arm movable along each guide, a plurality of rollers carried by each arm, and means for moving said arms along said guides to bring' the rollers carried thereby into supporting engagement With the bending roll.

8. In apparatus for producing sheet glass Wherein the said sheet is initially drawn up- Wardly from a bath of molten glass and then deflected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auxiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the firstmentionecl supporting means, said auxiliary supporting means including a pair of cam tracks, one at each side of the apparatus, an arm movable along each cam track, and means for simultaneously moving said arms along their respective can tracks to bring them into supporting engagement With the bending roll.

9. In apparatus for producing sheet glass Wherein the said sheet is initially draWn up- Wardly from a bath of molten glass and then deflected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auxiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auxiliary supporting means including a pair of fixed cam tracks, one at each side of the apparatus, a supporting arm movable along each cam track, a plurality of rollers carried by each arm, and means for simultaneously noving said arms along their respective cam tracks to bring the rollers carried thereby into supporting engagement With the bending roll.

10. In apparatus for producing sheet glass Wherein the said sheet is initially drawn up- Wardly from a bath of molten glass and then deflected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auxiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auXiliary supporting means including a pair of substantially vertically disposed cam tracks, one at either side of the apparatus, a substantially horizontally disposed supporting arm mov` able along each cam track, rollers carried by each supporting arm for guiding the same in its movement along its respective track, and means for sinultaneously moving the supporting arms along said tracks to bring them into supporting engagement With the bending roll.

11. In apparatus for producing sheet glass Wherein the said sheet is initially draWn upvvarclly from a bath of molten glass and then deflected into the horizontal plane about a bending roll, means for normally supporting the bending roll, auxiliary means for temporarily supporting said roll in operative position during the repair of the first-mentioned supporting means, said auxiliary supporting means including a pair of substantially vertically disposed cam tracks, one at either side of the machine, a substantially horizontally disposed supporting arm movable along each cam track, rollers carried by each supporting arm for guiding the same in its movement along its respective track, a plurality of additional rollers carried by each arm, and means for simultaneously moving said arms along said tracks to bring said last-mentioned rollers into supporting engagement With the bending roll.

Signed at Charleston, in the county of KanaWha and State of West Virginia, this 13th day of June, 1931.

LEWIS D. BLACKSHERE. 

